1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image-forming system for forming an image on an image-forming substrate, coated with a layer of microcapsules filled with dye or ink, by selectively breaking or squashing the microcapsules in the layer of microcapsules. Also, the present invention relates to an image-forming apparatus, used in the image-forming system, for forming an image on the image-forming substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a color-image-forming system, using an image-forming substrate coated with a layer of microcapsules filled with different color dyes or inks, is known. In this color-image-forming apparatus, the respective different colors are selectively developed on the microcapsule layer of the image-forming substrate by applying specific temperatures to the color microcapsule layer, and a developed color is fixed by irradiation, using a light of a specific wavelength.
In this conventional image-forming system, each pixel, forming a part of a developed image, corresponds to a single digital image-pixel signal, and is produced as a dot on the microcapsule layer of the image-forming substrate. A size of each dot is larger than an average size of the microcapsules forming the microcapsule layer, and thus a plurality of microcapsules is included in each dot.
In the conventional system, there is no method for properly controlling a number of microcapsules to be broken or Squashed when producing each dot, so as to obtain a variation in density (gradation) of a dot generated by the broken and squashed microcapsules.